US Death Row Inmate Christa Pike Says She Remains in Constant Pain After Botched Execution

A convicted murderer on death row in the United States, Christa Pike, has said she remains in constant pain, a month after surviving a botched execution attempt in Tennessee.

Pike, 50, made the disclosure on Friday in a statement released by her lawyers, describing the physical and emotional difficulties she has experienced since the failed execution.

“There hasn’t been a moment since that night when I haven’t been in pain,” she said.

“My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts,” Pike added, explaining that she was still struggling to speak.

“I still struggle to speak. And the pain isn’t just physical. There is pain in my mind and in my soul.”

Pike was administered two doses of the execution drug pentobarbital at a state prison on September 30. Despite receiving what was described as a usually fatal dose, she survived.

She was subsequently rushed to hospital in critical condition, where she received medical treatment before being returned to prison.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is the only inmate known to have survived after being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs.

She was sentenced to death in Tennessee for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she and her boyfriend beat and killed at a job training camp. Pike was 18 at the time of the crime.

In her latest statement, Pike said she was making progress in her recovery but stressed that healing did not mean she had fully recovered.

“I don’t know why I survived that night,” she said. “I don’t know what comes next. Some days, finding hope is harder than others. For now, I am trying to heal, one day at a time.”

Since the failed execution, Pike’s lawyers have repeatedly appealed to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment.

Lee, a Republican, has suspended executions in Tennessee pending an independent investigation into the state’s execution procedures.

Asked by reporters this week about Pike’s fate, the governor said: “I suspect her sentence will be the same as it was before unless determined otherwise by the courts.”

Meanwhile, 32 executions have been carried out in the United States this year, all through lethal injection.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while California, Oregon and Pennsylvania have imposed moratoriums on executions.